


Eustass Kid x Reader | Desolation

by Bamse



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2019-10-10 14:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17427377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bamse/pseuds/Bamse
Summary: Utter rupturing of Earth rampages, and you're not sure how you managed to survive for so long, but you're not sure how much longer you can. But even in this, good finds its way in. And somehow, you've found yourself capable of making the most of the little time left and fallen in love.





	1. 0

It was called different names, though it stuck to a main group of names. The general public called it the Calamity, and sometimes referred to as the Fallout or the Breakdown. You'd started calling it the Desolation after the third stroke, and the title fit even better after the fourth. Simple names for unexplainable catastrophes, describing just what it was. The falling out of Earth, or the earth breaking down. Scientists and many government officials, however, called it a more.. generous name. The Renewal. They explained it was part of Earth’s natural process for the greater picture.

Well, despite the given explanation seeming like it was from sci-fi movie, no one really cared what the scientists said anymore. After all, they were some of the select few who died in the second stroke. Even after boasting to have had the most secure bunkers, it seemed almost as if they were targeted.

Very few died in the first stroke alone. But still, it took its toll and probably helped in the deaths of many later on; it was was an immense heat stroke. Nothing to be taken lightly, but not nearly as extreme as later strokes.

The second was the exact opposite, occurring only a month after the first. A huge wave of freezing cold. The next counts the as the second and a half stroke. The scorching and frigid in a way battled it out, resulting in different areas being on either side of the spectrum. One could walk a hundred feet and within that range suffer from hypothermia and heatstroke, not to mention the toll of rapid changes in extreme temperatures.

At this point, other bunkers were created that more or less kept out the weather. But it worked just fine. Not many died yet, other than many scientists and very young children who were abandoned. Everyone somehow cooperated and helped each other. When disaster strikes, one could suppose humans are left with what they can scratch at.

The third didn't happen until a year later when society finally warped itself around the new conditions. It knocked out more and only worsened the previous disasters, and brought its own troubles. Dark, filthy, ash-like clouds reigned over the sky, keeping the temperature trapped in. The flaky black substance rained down, causing many to catch an awful sickness from breathing it in too much, though it was a rather slow process. One would die only months after continuing to breathe in the toxic stuff, so more emergent warnings didn't get out until many would have already fallen victim. It contaminated the water and food that would be left out.

The fourth stroke really did it, only six months after the Ashclouds appeared. It was a collection of extreme natural disasters, occurring over the span of a few years, popping up in groups. First were earthquakes that rated far higher than any ever seen before, resulting in deadly tsunamis easily triple the size of the tallest skyscrapers in the biggest cities. They wrecked even land far away from shores alongside unimaginably destructive hurricanes. At last, after all that disaster ended, then came sudden sinkholes falling tens of thousands of meters deep while tornadoes rampaged the land. And once those finally came to a halt, volcanoes erupted and appeared at random, and meteors crashed into Earth.

If you've survived all this, you were what was left of humanity. Desperate, dying creatures whose numbers barely scraped at 100. Just like you.

You stand now, a year after what was hoped to be the last stroke, fearing for your life, side by side with a few of the other humans that remain. And now, they were released onto Earth to finally finish off the survivors.


	2. 0.01

0.01 (I’m rewriting this so uh.. Yeah? Also, short chapters beware!)

_______

You stand now, a year after what was hoped to be the last stroke, fearing for your life, side by side with a few of the other humans that remain. And now, they were released onto Earth to finally finish off the survivors.

But far before that, just after the second and a half stroke, began a story that first needs to be told.

____

“I’m back!” you called into the quiet bunker. Nearly everyone had left at that point. Food was running low in the area, and planting was an issue without soil. 

“In the infirmary,” Law said. “Checking up on Eustass-ya’s wounds. How is it out there?”

You headed into the infirmary room and dumped the small pile of goods on a nearby bed. “The same, but I think the manual adjustments helped a lot. Ya know, just goes to show how useful teamwork is,” you chimed.

Kid groaned. “Ew, you’re so cheesy.”

“You’re cheesy.” You rolled your eyes. “How’re the injuries?”

“Fine. They’re healed now, the problem is getting this brute to cooperate and not strain his body too much for a while.” 

“I need to go out,” he moaned in fake agony. “Doc, I’ll surely die if I don’t. Life is much more important than some injuries!”

“Shut up, drama queen!” 

“Anyway, I’m heading out soon. You coming? Ya gotta get outta here sooner or later. I’m gonna go find everyone,” offered Kid. 

You glanced at your feet, shifting your weight. “I want to, but…I can’t survive out there!”

“You sure as hell can if I’m with you,” he said, a cocky, lopsided smirk on his lips. He ran a hand through his flaming locks. “You’d can’t survive here, too, ya know.”

Law sighed. “You’re not helping.”

“And you are, shitty sadistic surgeon?” Kid snorted. 

“Big talk from the one who threatened yesterday to torture me for five days straight just to eventually kill me quickly.”

“Says the one who threatened to dissect me alive, freak doc!”

“I’ll go with you.” The two turned their heads to you. 

“[Y/N]-ya, are you sure about that? Don’t you wanna think it through?”

You nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’ve had plenty of time to think. If it’s alright, I’ll go with you, Kid.” 

“Yup. We’re leaving in three days.”

Of course, once he said that, Law denied it quickly, stating he wouldn’t have enough time to recover, to which he retorted that he’d be fine.

“Law, I think it’s fine,” you said, taking Kid’s side. “I know enough about medicine and stuff, right?” You gave him your biggest puppy dog eyes.

It didn’t really work, but he did have to admit you had a point. He’d been teaching you about medicine and wounds throughout the months they stayed in the bunker.

So three days later, you set off with Kid. Law decided to stay a while longer, since he didn’t want to leave his lab before some more testing. Not long after, you learnt later, he headed out a week later.


	3. 0.02

0.02   
_______

You’d packed everything you and Kid thought you’d need: basic weapons, clothing, and provisions to last a while.

Once you set off, Kid decided you’d head to Colorado. Being already in northern Arizona, he said it’d make sense to head North then go through, combing through the states. When Killer, Heat, and Wire left, they said they’d never go back to the Southwest a major distance so it was just a little easier to track them.

You walked with him along the street for a good week or two until finally Kid found a maroon truck he said would be fine. He dusted off the layers of ice and fixed it up before hijacking it. He revved the engine back to life. 

“It’ll do,” he said. “Get in, twerp.”

“Right. Hey, where are we right now? You said we’re in Colorado now, but how’re we gonna search?” 

As he started driving, he sighed. “Real talk, [Y/N], no clue. We’ll figure something out, though.”

“Yeah. We will.” You sent a smile his way. “You know, it’ll be fine. It’s a lot of land to cover, but all we need to do is go state by state and cover at least most of it.”

He rolled his shoulders and popped his neck to his left, then his right, then sighed. “Easier said than done.”

“We don’t have much of a choice, though, do we?”

“No, twerp. No, we don’t.” 

Driving for weeks on end was tiring, to say the least. You and Kid took turns driving while the other slept or rested. 

At least you stopped every few days to grab more food and raid stores, but the most of it was spoiled or stolen already. But you were still able to find food and water, and you began a mini storage unit in the cargo bed.

____

You were driving through a winter forested area when it happened. One of the wheels came off and sent the car off the road, falling into the forest and rolling down a hill. 

“Kid!” you screamed with terror. Your body was thrashed around within the car, slamming against the roof and seats. The wind was knocked out of you, and you were gasping for air. The windows shattered at some point, and you could feel shards scratching against your skin, some managing to pierce your skin.

A cluster of growls and curses came from Kid and wheezes and coughs from you.

And just as fast as it happened, it was over. But the pain was still there, and it cycled throughout your body, sending waves of ache and shock. 

“[Y/N]? You good?” Kid groaned. The truck ended up tipped on its side, and he shifted so he was right side up.

You couldn’t speak. You were panting, heaving to try to get air.

“Hey, hey. Deep breaths. Listen to me.” His voice was gruff and tired, not particularly soothing, but it helped nonetheless. He crawled over to you and propped your body into a sitting position. “Deep breaths.” You tried, but it was too shaky, and your lungs need more air faster. 

“Can’t!” you choked out.

“Can. Just slow down a little. Just a little more.”

“I’m good,” you said. “I’m good.” Your voice trembled, but you could breathe next to normally again. “Everything else just hurts like hell.”

“Yeah? Let’s get out of here.” He kicked open a door and shuffled out before pulling you out.

He stood easily beside you, and you tried following his example, but you couldn’t maintain your balance like he could. You swayed on your feet, and you would’ve fallen if Kid hadn’t helped. 

“I can’t walk.”

“Duh. You can barely stand.” Kid rolled his eyes and helped you down to lean against a tree. “I’m gonna see what I can salvage and get you fixed up.”

“Thanks.” 

As you watched him walk away to check the cargo bed, you swallowed. You could clearly see the bright red spreading through the fabric of his jeans. And the glass poking out an inch or two, which stretched down the span of his calf.


	4. 0.03

Your knees quivered just at the sight of it, and your own injuries seemed insignificant. “Kid! You’re hurt!”

He chuckled dryly. “Hey, you’re pretty smart. How’d ya figure that one out?”

“Kid, I’m serious! You need help!” You tried to stand, but you only stumbled. Every joint and muscle sank whenever you tried to use them. 

“Yeah. I know. Let’s just,” he huffed as he forced open the top of the cargo bed, “Get what we can for now.”

You wanted to protest, yell at him at how stupid he was being. But you knew you couldn’t. If he chose to stay prideful on the matter, you simply had to comply. And what right did you have, anyway? You’d only known him for a month or two. Though, that didn’t dismiss how worried you were for him. 

He came back with two large backpacks that carried everything. “Most of it’s fine. A can or two of food ruined, and we lost the gas, but nothing major.”

You nodded. 

“Let’s get you fixed up,” he said, pulling out a few medical kits. He knelt down by you, pulling out some bandages. 

Only a few pieces of glass punctured your skin, and even those weren’t more than an inch deep. He took care of it all easily. Given, you had to remind him to disinfect the open cut, he was unusually good at patching you up. He even used a wrap to stabilise your legs and ankles.

“Where’d you learn how to do all this stuff? From Law?”

He clicked his tongue. “I wouldn’t learn shit from him. Nah, I used to have to do this a lot, before the first shock.”

You didn’t want to press too hard for more information, but you wanted to know more. “From… just stuff?”

“Yeah. Just stuff, twerp. Gangs, fights. Stupid stuff.” 

“Right… So do you happen to know how to stitch up wounds?”

“You don’t need stitches for those, twerp.” He snorted. “But no, I don’t. Too fancy.”

You sighed. “Not for me, Kid. I mean, if you’ll let me, you should get that treated. Now that my _very fatal wounds_ are patched up.”

He shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”

“Then… sit here.”

Using the skills Law helped you with, you were able to disinfect the wound, put in a few stitches, and bandage it. And through that, Kid didn’t even wince. 

“We’re gonna have to make sure this is cleaned,” you said.

“Right. Now, we’re gonna have to find a new car. As much as I just love walking, we’re not gonna last. You know, we’re being watched now.”

Your body went stiff. “Watched?”

“Yeah. They want our stuff. But we’re not gonna let them have it. C’mon, we gotta get moving to a city or something. We need another car. And to get out before the gas in the cargo bed leaks to the wrong spot.”

He stands and slings the larger backpack over his shoulder. “Can ya carry the other one?”

“Yeah.” You take the second bag and put it on. It was heavy, but it wasn’t awful. You forced your legs to keep up with Kid’s longer strides. “Why didn’t we move before? You know, with the gas and everything?”

“Then they wouldn’t get too close. They didn’t know the situation, or if the car would explode any minute. So they kept distance. Now, they’re gonna come after us.” He glanced down at you. “You okay?”

“I have no clue how to fight,” you admitted. “I’d be useless in a fight.”

“Well, I’ll teach you later. Besides, you don’t have to fight. That’s what I’m here for, twerp.”


	5. 0.04

0.04

_______

The four followed you through the few remaining hours of the day, and when night fell, you had to find a place to sleep. 

“Could we find a cave? Or a tree with thick branches?” you suggested.

Kid shook his head. “No, that’d be bad.”

“Why? Shouldn’t we not be exposed in the middle of everything?”

He set down his backpack down against a tree, and you did the same. He knelt and grabbed a few blankets from one of the sections and laid them out.

“No. Better to be out in the open than cornered. Let’s say they attack. Let’s say they could pummel us to the ground in a matter of seconds. They can’t, but let’s pretend. We’d be trapped. They’d take us out quick in case of future threat.” 

You shivered. “That’s… not very realistic, though, is it?”

“No. We’ll be taking turns sleeping, by the way. About three hours each should be good.”

“Isn’t that… a short amount?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but there’s little time.”

You didn’t question it any further. Maybe he was expecting another shock, worse than the first two.

“Right. How will we track time, though?”

He pointed up. “When the moon is straight up, we switch. When it’s about there,” he said, pointing up towards the sky, “We’re both up and moving again.”

“Right,” you said, agreeing blindly. “What if… What if one of us falls asleep. You know, when we’re supposed to be awake.”

“That’d be bad,” he said. “Let’s try not to do that.”

“What if—”

“Okay, sleeping time.” He picked you up and lightly dropped you onto the blankets.

“Hey!”

“Just go to sleep. I’ll wake you when you up when it’s time.”

You tried your best to sleep as much as possible within the short time, but you barely managed half an hour. You were exhausted, yet it felt so wrong to sleep. Sure, it was a small mental toll to know you could be attacked any second, but Kid was there, and it was your body that was tired, not your mind.

You weren’t asleep when Kid shook you, but you got comfortable and it took a bit for you to get up. You switched spots with Kid, taking a seat with your back against a tree. 

They attacked maybe two hours later. One came from nearby, going for you, and another booking it with a knife for Kid, while the other two went for the supplies. 

“Kid!” you screamed. “Wake up!”

Kid woke (though rather groggily) and one of your attackers groaned in frustration. 

“Stupid girl!”

He grabbed your arm and yanked you towards him. Then, holding the back of your head, he slammed your head against a tree. You yelled out in pain as he continued bashing your head over and over. At that, Kid shot up, and his attacker shook, backing off slowly.

“Oi, attack!” grunted the one attacking you. The other just shook his head.

“[Y/N]? Shit!” He first knocked out the two trying to steal the bags and the third trying to escape.

You squirmed and tried to escape, but you couldn’t. Your consciousness was rapidly escaping. Kid knocked the last one out quickly, and your body fell to the ground. Blood, both bright and dark in the moonlight against the white, rough dirt, poured from your head, and you were barely awake at that point.

“Hold on,” he murmured, lifting you, making sure to keep your head steady.

You whined in response, a stream of tears leaving your eyes. “Hurts,” you said quietly.

“Yeah, I know. Hold on, dammit. I’ll take care of it.”

He lay you on the makeshift bed, and got to work on trying to stop the bleeding. Less than a minute later, you blacked out.


	6. 0.05

0.05

_______

It took a hell of a lot of effort just to open your eyes, and when you did, the light had you barely resisting squeezing them shut again. The low hum of the motor and slight shakes got your barely conscious mind thinking. _Was it all a dream?_

“Kid?” you said. 

The vehicle stopped so suddenly you nearly fell off the seats you were laid on. 

“Shit! [Y/N] you’re up! How long?”

You flinched as the noise rang in your head. “Uh… not long. What happened?”

He sighed. “You blacked out, for the past two days and nights. How do you feel?”

“Like Satan played darts with my head as bullseye.”

“Well, at least you’re up. Hold on, get up here in the front.”

You crawled up to the passenger’s seat slowly and settled down. When you looked at Kid’s face, you barely held in a gasp. Dark circles under his eyes stood out against his paler than usual skin, pointing out his tired, amber eyes.

“Kid are you okay? When was the last time you slept?”

“When they attacked. I’m fine, you need to eat and drink something. Here.”

He tossed you a protein bar and water bottle. “I found another car, by the way. A real nice one, too, and I got more gas. There’s more food in the…” He lost track of his words, eyes slowly closing before snapping back to awareness. “There’s more food in the trunk, if you need.”

“Kid… You need to sleep.”

“You can’t take driver’s. You literally just woke up from a coma.”

“You’re right, but you’re practically falling asleep now. I’ll stay up and wake you if something happens. Why didn’t you sleep?”

“I---”

“No, don’t answer, just get some rest, Kid.”

Without another word, he turned off the car and crawled to the back to sleep, and within but a few seconds, he began to snore softly.

When he did, you flipped down the sun visor and opened the mirror, curious for a while at that point. Bandages were wrapped around your head. You brought your hand up and pressed lightly, but flinched and quickly retracted your hand.

You were tempted to take them off, but decided against it. You’d see eventually, and it’d be best to just leave them on until whatever injury laid underneath needed tending to. 

Just above your own head, from the mirror, you saw Kid shifting uncomfortably. Frowning, you exited the car. For the first time you realised where you were. You were in the middle of a city in a summer area. The buildings looked worse than in the other areas. Maybe it was an old city.

You headed to the back and checked the trunk, shuffling through the bags, now at the count of three. In the newest bag was the sleeping stuff, which now had a pillow part of its inventory. You pulled it out and closed the trunk and opened the backdoor and rested his head on it. Since it was a summer area, you scrapped the blanket idea.

Though you’d been through a few summer areas before that, it had been mostly winter areas. The artificial adjustments Kid and Law made helped with both extreme coldness and heat, but outside, it was nice to feel heat over cold. It wasn’t scorching like it would’ve been if the adjustments weren’t there, but it was different. 

A few hours later, Kid awoke. “[Y/N]?” he muttered, still mostly asleep. When you looked back, he still had his eyes closed and a frown on his lips.

“Kid? Get some more rest. It hasn’t been that long.”

He ignored you. “Shut up and let me talk before I regret it. You asked me why I didn’t sleep. It was cause I was worried and I wanted to be there when you woke up. I thought you’d lost your memory or something or wouldn’t wake again. That really fucking scared me.”

You stayed quiet, biting your lip as you let a few happy tears slide from your eyes.

“It’s almost like I care about you. And like I was almost worried about being alone. Eustass Kid isn’t supposed worry about that shit,” he said, slowly drifting back to sleep. 

“Yeah? I’m sure.”

“Yeah. And Eustass Kid is sure about everything. He’s sure he cares about you and he doesn’t want to be alone.”

“Yeah. Neither does (Y/N). She doesn’t want to be alone, and she cares too. Night, Kid.”

He hummed and fell back to his slumber.

You sat with your head leaning against the seat, smiling like a fool.


	7. 0.06

“Ugh, I had the weirdest dream ever.”

“Oh? What was it about?”

He thought for a second or two before shaking his head. “Nothing. We should probably get back to driving. We’re in an old part of New Mexico,” he said. 

“New Mexico? What happened to Colorado?”

“Well, I was thinking. Killer, Heat, and Wire would probably make it easy to track them. The first place they’d go? Easily Florida. That’s where we’re raised from. They’d go back and see if they can get back to our hometown, they’d wanna see if they could find some of our old friends that stayed there. Then they’d head up. Hopefully. Anything is better than covering the country by state.”

“So we’re following what they’d... _theoretically_ do?”

“Yup.” He started up the car and began driving without another word about it. 

There was little conversation between the two of you. It wasn’t awkward, but neither of you knew what to say to break the silence. It wasn’t awful either. It gave the both of you time to think. 

____

It had been weeks of silence until the two of you finally started talking again. He started out by pulling up into a parking lot. You assumed it was to refill the tank, but when you glanced over, the dial showed a half tank still. 

He pointed towards the stores in front. “We’re getting weapons and food,” he said.

There was a Walmart in front of you, and towards the corner of the lot of old stores, a gun shop. “I’m getting weapons, go get food. I’ll find you wherever you are, so just focus on getting as much food as you can.”

You hated it, but a tiny little doubt crept into your mind. _What if he’s gonna ditch me here?_ But immediately, his tired words from the depths of his subconscious rang back at you, and you were fine again.

“Right.”

You entered the Walmart, grabbed a shopping basket, and walked down the food aisles, searching for food. It was surprisingly full. Not very stocked, but the shelves weren’t that bare, holding at least a few somethings on every aisle. You stocked them into the basket, and it came to a point where you had to grab another, then eventually you hauled it all in a grocery cart. It was almost too much for the cart.

You’d nearly finished when Kid came to you. “I got guns we’d need, and knives, too, they’re in the car.”

“They sell knives at gun stores?” 

“You’d be surprised. There’s guns, yeah, but they also got a hundred types of knives, half as many brands of cigs, and depending where you go, twice as many drugs. Anyway, I’m gonna try to find some stuff here. Camping stuff in case we lose another car. Lamps. That stuff. C’mon, finish up here and we’ll go do that.”

You nodded and quickly scooped the last bit of food into the cart, and Kid got his own to store whatever he needed in. 

“Where are we gonna store all this stuff?”

“We can take out the back seats out of the car and lower the middle ones,” he said. “It’ll make the entire back area a storage unit. And if we do lose the car, I’ve been thinking about making something.”

“Is it the thing you fiddle with when it’s my drive shift?”

“Yeah. It’ll compress whatever’s inside to its smallest form---which is much smaller than you’d think, I’ll have to adjust it a little to make it large enough to handle---and then it’ll return it to normal with… well, it’s hard to explain. I’m not really sure exactly what I’m doing either, I never learned the sciency stuff behind what I do. I just do it.”

You shrugged. “I don’t really mind. Even if you did know the sciency stuff behind it, I doubt I’d understand.”

He hummed and began looking at different things. Tents, sleeping bags, lamps for camping, lighters for said lamps. It was a full section, and once he finished picking out what he needed, you two started back out. 

“Should… one of us stayed by the car?” you asked.

_______

Note : Okay, weird awkward ending I know, but it got to be a lil’ long for the average word count of this series so far lol. It’ll probably increase as I get more impatient for the story lol.


	8. entry 1; page 2

You clear your throat. 

“You ran---”

“Why is it ‘you?’” Wire asks.

“Shut up, idiot,” whispers Heat.

You sigh. “Because I’m writing to myself. Like I was a third person watching myself, so when I wrote, I was writing to myself.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“You ran as fast as you could out the door, an exit you weren’t used to. You ran down the hallway randomly, not knowing where to go…”

You ended up outside, thank god, and knew immediately where to go. You snuck under and over fallens, hoping to lose them. For the first time in the past few days, your old instincts kicked in and you kept making distance between yourself and the two. Until you tripped like an idiot on flat ground.

They caught up easily and Eustass grabbed you by the back of the collar of your shirt. A wide grin seething malice grew on his face as the collar nudged uncomfortably at your neck. He shook you a few times as you squirmed, fingers finding their place in between your neck and the edge of the fabric of your shirt. He laughed wickedly.

“Nice try, little rat,” he sneered.

You glared up at him, trying to kick him several times, but he just held you out farther. Killer sighed. 

“Just knock her out so we can get going,” he said.

Eustass rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” He sounded like a child, hating being told what to do but doing it nonetheless. And you were, yet again, knocked out.

____

It was the Kid Gang’s base you woke up in, in the main room, where they drank and ate and hung out most of the time, just as they were when you woke. It was loud, their half-drunken laughs and heavy metal music sounding out. And despite the blacked out windows, it was really bright. The overhead lights were unfamiliar, probably built by the gang themselves. 

You were tied to a supporting pillar, ropes keeping your arms together in front of you and another set keeping your waist to the pillar. You shifted a little, hoping to slip out of the bindings. You managed to almost wriggle out and free yourself, but that was when they noticed you were awake.

“Hey, boss! The little assassin’s awake,” alerted one of the gang. His symbol was fairly bright, so you presumed he was pretty high up. He had bright blond hair that was gelled up in a mohawk and some type of goggles that didn’t seem to do much.

“Oh?” said Eustass, lowering his beer from his lips and turning his head towards your way before a lopsided smirk made its way onto his face. “I see.”

He set down the bottle and waltzed towards you, the others making space as he passed. He earned several of the group’s attention. From his jacket sleeve he slipped out a utility knife, the blade glinting back the bright lights. 

“Now, I’ve got a couple questions for you. You can either answer them or answer to this blade, and squirm under it like the filthy, weak rat you are.”

You wanted real bad to snark back and kick him hard in the crotch, but you refrained. Barely.

“Understood? Let’s start. How are you affiliated with Red Hair?”

Immediately, you decided it’d be best to tell the truth. “Shanks… I worked for him. A couple years ago.”

Your answer seemed to please him. “Oh? What’d you do?” He twirled the knife in his hand as he looked down on you.

“I…” You breathed a few times, a pause of hesitance. “I was his assassin.”

He laughed. “And, little assassin, what do you know of ol’ Red Hair?”

 _Shit._ You figured he’d ask for secrets, but when the time came, your words tumbled over themselves. He just chuckled and told you to spit it out.

You had no clue where to start, or what to say first. “What do you want to know?” you asked finally.

He hummed. “Last I checked, I was the one doing the asking.” You gulped. “But, I’ll let it slide just this one time. Let’s start with… where’s his base?”

Automatically, you shook your head. “I won’t tell you that.”

His grin dropped quickly. “And why’s that?”

You planned on telling him, honestly, but you couldn’t bring yourself to in the end. “I have no reason nor right to disclose any information about him. Of myself and my past work, I’ve no issue. But I won’t break loyalty with Shanks.”

“Shame.” He took the tip of the utility knife and pressed it against your forearm. “Sure you don’t wanna answer?” You spit in his face, which he just wiped off with his sleeve. He smiled wickedly.

Slowly, he dug the blade into your skin. Pellets of blood flowed out, streaming down to your hands. As he put more pressure on the knife, it sunk deeper and deeper, and you squirmed, fighting back tears that threatened to pour. With a sudden push, he stabbed it through until it came to an involuntary stop, where your bone was. He twisted the blade slowly and moved it back and forth as the blade turned within the inch of flesh.

You squeezed your eyes shut first sight of bone, and tears crawled out and down your face. You opened your mouth. Airy screams were all you could manage through your pain.

Your eyes were forced open and Eustass put his hand on your head, gripping it so you had to look at what he was doing. He took the knife and slowly cut through the flesh, the dull blade often getting stuck. So he tugged harder. Your wails rang through the warehouse. The pain was unexplainable. I don’t even want to explain it here. Not that I can.

__Θ__

“Up to the right of what I wrote, there’s a little note. ‘I hadn’t the words to explain feelings very well just yet by that point. And as I reread this just a year later, I’ve the ability to, but I wish not to recall so vividly such an ill encounter with Kid.’ Oh, right. I remember going back and rereading this back in XX04.”

“That seems so long ago,” Heat says.

“But it feels like everything just happened yesterday,” Killer says, sighing. 

“If only, then we’d know all the shit that’d go down,” you sigh. A few hums and nods of agreement before you start reading again.

__Θ__

You could see the bone as he tore more flesh, and blood was everywhere. The scent warped your mind, putting you in a nostalgic daze. You remembered the smell all too well. It was like a trip down memory lane, except this time you were the one in pain. 

Eustass twisted the knife before removing it and tossing it by you. You could see all your blood staining the blade and handle. He looked around for a second before settling on sticking some wire that was lying around into the side of your wound. 

I vaguely remember what occurs next, so take these next words with a grain of salt.

You groaned in pain, vision blurring. He thrust the wire in and out of the wound, bringing you to the brink of a scream.

You snapped. 

Maybe it really was the scent of blood that took you back, or the lack of able to withstand the pain any longer. Something in you snapped and for a while, you reverted to how you were when you were younger.

You kicked Eustass away, far enough to allow you enough time from shock to fully slip out of your bindings around your waist. You didn’t have time to try to untie the knot, so you settled for dislocating your thumbs and getting out that way. It hurt, but with the screeching pain in your arm, your thumbs felt like nothing. 

When the gang got up to attack you, Kid put his arms up.

“Nah,” he said, smiling madly. “Let me take care of her.” His eyes shone bright with bloodthirst, matching his sadistic grin.


	9. 0.07

He froze. “ _Shit_. Why the hell didn’t I think about that? The fuck was going on in my head?”

He rushed out in front of you, leaving his cart. You thought for a minute before following suit and ditching the carts as well, rushing towards Kid. A large (well, small, but much more people than you and Kid) group of 9 or 10 were at the car, 3 knocked out with a fair bit of blood around them on the blazing street. They looked exhausted, and they were drenched in sweat. 

They had simple weapons: pipes, hammers, clubs. But they also got some weapons from the trunk, where Kid put them. They didn’t quite know how to use the guns completely properly, but they were clearly familiar with knives. Your redhead companion was fending off another two that went after him with their blunt weapons while the other five were raiding the trunk. 

You were frozen. If you went to help Kid, the five could take you on with guns and knives. If you went after the five, you’d be beaten to a pulp. One with a gun spotted you quickly and shot a few bullets, all of them clearly missing. That alerted everyone else, drawing their attention enough for Kid to have an advantage. 

He was able to run past his opponents towards the car, where he sent a hard punch to the one that fired at you. As he stumbled back, Kid snatched the gun and took aim. You looked away, and several seconds and shots later, you turned back around. There were 10 bodies on the ground, blood seeping from their heads or chests. 

You cringed at the sight. 

Kid was breathing heavily. He set the gun back into the backseat.

“Sorry,” he said, noticing your disturbed expression.

“It’s fine, thanks.”

He sighed. “C’mon, let’s get the stuff. You mind driving?”

“Yeah, I can drive.”

____

Everywhere you went, there seemed to be bandits or people looking to steal. You started finding less and less groups, and more individuals looking out for themselves. Or groups that self destructed in the middle of a fight.

Speaking of, Kid had taught you how to fight and use knives. A few weeks later, you found a city that seemed to have died out quickly after the heat and cold. 

“We’re in Charleston, south Carolina,” he said. “Let’s look around, we need more gas soon.”

You nodded and drove around, finding a few gas stations. You stocked up before aimlessly driving around the city.

You came around a house, and you slowed down. 

“What’s up?” Kid asked, looking up from his project.

“Something’s up with that house. Ya know? Can you tell?”

He looked and squinted a little. “Yeah. It looks occupied, let’s go in.”

“What about the car?”

“Turn on the alarms, it’ll be fine.”

You nodded and got out of the car before turning on the alarm system he’d set up.

“I really hope this isn’t a bad idea… should we knock?”

“Look, at this point, pretty much most of the population in the US lives in bunkers, and we barely see more than a few people at a time. Do we really need to knock?”

“I don’t know? Maybe? It’s the polite thing to do.”

He snorted. “Let’s just see if it’s open.”

He twisted the handle, and it turned easily. He opened the door and carefully stepped inside.

“Stay behind me, just in case.”

You nodded and did so. He crept around the living room. 

“Get outside through the backdoor,” he muttered. 

“What? Why?”

“Just go, quickly!”

You slipped through the backdoor, and looked inside through the sliding glass door. 

“Get back.”

A few seconds later, bullets riddled the floor from the ceiling, and your breath hitched. You swallowed. It’d been at least 15 seconds before the bullets stopped. 

Quickly after that, you heard a pair of loud footsteps coming downstairs and the sound of a magazine being loaded into a gun.

“Who’s there?”


	10. 0.08

You swallowed, hiding behind Kid’s much more intimidating figure. Two familiar people entered sight, and you blinked a few times, making sure your eyes weren’t deceiving you.

“Heat? Wire?” you said, stepping out from behind Kid.

“Oh, it’s you two. Good to see you again,” Heat said, leaning his gun against the wall.

Kid entered the house again, with a small grunt. “Jeez, you should’ve put the marker in a more obvious place. I didn’t see it at first, if I was any later we would’ve been dead,” he said. “Where’s Killer?”

“Different house,” Wire said. “We can go now, if you’d like.”

“Nah, let’s get everything packed up. (Y/N), help them get everything set up right, I’ll grab the things.”

“Right,” you said as the redhead went out to the car. You followed Heat and Wire upstairs. “So… no emotional reunion or anything?”

“Does boss look like he’s one to have an emotional reunion?”

“I—Good point… Still, it’s been a while.” You set the food and water apart in small groups that’ll each last about a week, just finishing as Kid came up.

He placed a metal chip in the centre of each group, making sure everything was in range, and stepped back and activated them. They expanded and boxed it up before shrinking into an inch wide cube. 

You scooped them up and placed them in a small bag. “Do we need anything else? I think we’re fine on weapons and all, right?”

“Yeah. We’ll be fine on that.”

“Then let’s grab Killer,” Heat said. “We should walk there, though. It’d be difficult to drive.”

They were definitely right. The house was in a valley and had a bunch of large rocks around it. 

“Why’s he all the way out here?” you asked, struggling to stay on your feet as you climbed.

“We found the house not too long ago, it’s not like he’s always been there. He’s just been investigating it for about a week, looking into some things,” Heat said as you finally arrived at the house. 

He knocked thrice before entering, you, Kid, and Wire following. 

The inside was musty and it felt like if you weren’t careful, a step on the wrong floorboard would send you falling to the basement, or too much pressure on a wall would make the roof collapse. 

Killer came out from the back, much more muscular than you remember, and his hair also looks shorter, despite it being wet from a shower. 

“So what’s needing investigating?” you questioned as Kid and Killer greeted each other. You offered a small wave to the blond as well.

Heat and Wire shared a look.

“I know that stupid face, the fuck’s going on?”

You held back a small chastise of his language, too eager to know for yourself.

“We don’t think this whole temperature thing is the sole bad thing that’s planned to happen,” Killer spoke up.

You blinked and shifted uneasily. “Planned?” you said, voice smaller than you expected.

Killer sighed lightly before shaking his head. “We don’t know for sure, but I’ll explain. I’ll have to show you guys to explain it, though. Follow me.”

_______

I didn’t really wanna end it here but… the explanation and such deserves a chapter of its own, especially since these chapters are short.


End file.
